Textile cone

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to a plastic textile cone. The cone has a non-slip peripheral surface configuration which is formed by alternate ridge sections and groove sections circumscribing the cone. The front surfaces of the ridge sections and the groove sections are knurled by a plurality of fine grooves which also circumscribe the cone. All synthetic yarns used in the textile industry may be wound on the cone without slipping and no snagging of the yarn will occur when it is being unwound from the cone.

United States Patent 1 Hamilton 51 Aug. 19, 1975 TEXTILE CONE [75] Inventor: Arthur C. Hamilton, Weston,

Canada [73] Assignee: Texcone Limited, Mississauga.

Canada [22] Filed: Nov. 21, 1973 2: Appl. No: 417,866

[52] [1.8. Ci. 242/1 18.32 [51] int. Cl. B6511 75/26; 13651-1 75/10 [58] Field of Search 242/118.3. 118.31, 118.32

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2.535.188 12/1950 Beckner 242/1 18.32

3.095.161 6/1963 Atwood et a1. 242]! 18.3 X

3.361.381 1/1968 Livingstone 242/1 18.3

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 790.554 9/1935 France 242/1 18.3

530.678 12/1940 United Kingdom 242/1 18.32 707,926 4/1954 United Kingdom 242/1 18.32 1.240.771 7/1971 United Kingdom 242/118.32

Primary Examiner-George F. Mautz Attorney, Agent, or Firm-David W. Wong; Arne 1. Fors [57] ABSTRACT This invention relates to a plastic textile cone. The cone has a non-slip peripheral surface configuration which is formed by alternate ridge sections and groove sections circumscribing the cone. The front surfaces of the ridge sections and the groove sections are knurled by a plurality of fine: grooves which also circumscribe the cone. All synthetic yarns used in the textile industry may be wound on the cone without slipping and no snagging of the yarn will occur when it is being unwound from the cone.

10 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures TEXTILE CONE I BACKGROUN 0F THE INVENTION This invention relates to yarn carriers and particularly relates to conical yarn carriers for holding all synthetic yarns widely used in the modern textile industry.

Spun yarn or filament yarn is commonly wound on hollow carriers such that large amounts of yarn may be handled, transported or fed to weaving or knitting machines.

Common textile yarn carriers are either cylindrical or conical in shape. Each type of these carriers is designed for use in a different type of weaving or knitting machine; Conical yarn carriers are commonly used for all synthetic filament yarns and these conical carriers are referred to as textile cones.

Heretofore, textile cones have been made of paper. However, paper cones have many drawbacks and are time-consuming and expensive to manufacture. The main drawback of paper cones is thay they are structurally inaccurate, i.c. the barrel of the paper cones is usually not concentric and the peripheral or barrel surface characteristics cannot be produced with any consistency. Furthermore, paper cones are heavy in weight since the barrel must have a certain thickness so as to provide sufficient strength to withstand the pressure exerted on it by the yarn wound thereon. The inaccuracy of paper cones presents particularly the greatest problem since the cones are rotated at high speeds to wind the yarn thereon. Any imperfection in the cone will cause an eccentric movement in the cone rotation when the cone is rotated at such high speeds, resulting in that the yarn is wound on the barrel of the cone unevenly. As winding speeds are increased in modern winding machines, which is an almost annual occurrence, this problem becomes more acute.

An additional source of eccentric rotation in paper cones is caused by an inside seam which exists due to an essential part of the manufacturing process. The inside seam causes the cone to ride unevenly on the mandrel of the winding machine, thus causing a bumping movement which upsets the winding operation and may even, in extreme cases, damage the spindle bearings of the winding machine.

Also, heretofore, paper cones have caused a pollution problem to the natural environment. This is due to the fact that paper cones are discarded by the knitters as paper waste after the yarn has been fed to the knitting or weaving machines. Yarn manufacturers do not recover the paper cones from the knitters since it will cost great expense and time to check the quality of the used cones in order to assure that they may be re-used. Also, the paper cones are not returnable to the cone manufacturers for recycling due to the high cost of carrying out the recycling process.

Attempts have been made to manufacture textile cones in'plastics. Such plastic cones have much higher durability than paper cones and are cheaper and easier to produce and mass production processes may be employed. The resulting plastic cones are accurate and concentric in shape and their structural and surface characteristics can be duplicated precisely with consistency. Furthermore, plastic cones are light in weight, thus they are easier to handle and to transport. Also, used plastic cones may be recycled since the quality 0 the plastics is not affected by normal use.

However, plastic cones have presented a large problem to the user, because the peripheral or barrel surface of the plastic cones has a low friction index and the modern synthetic yarns also have a low surface friction index. Therefore, it is difficult to wind such synthetic yarns on a plastic cone because the head of the yarn will tend to slip off the barrel surface. Such problem of winding slipping may be overcome by exercising great care in winding the first few layers of the windings on the cone. However, often the center portions of the yarn windings will pop out from the smaller nose end of the cone even after the yarn has been wound thereon.

Plastic cone manufacturers have attempted to obviate the slipping problem by providing a coarse peripheral surface on the cone so as to increase its surface friction. One method used is to roughen the peripheral surface of the cone directly so as to duplicate thereon the surface quality of the paper cone. Another method used is to sand blast the mould such that the cone produced will have a rough peripheral surface. Some of these methods have overcomethe slipping problem facing the yarn manufacturers, but these methods are expensive to carry out and are highly inaccurate because the sand blasted pattern on the peripheral surface of the cone is hard to duplicate with any consistency.

Furthermore, all such coarse surface plastic cones present a great problem to the knitters, because the coarse surface causes snagging of the yarn, particularly synthetic yarns which are extremely susceptible to snagging due to their fine size.

Any roughness on the nose end of the cone will cause snagging of the yarn at any time during unwinding and any roughness on the peripheral or barrel surface will also cause snagging when unwinding the last few layers of the yarn windings. Such snagging will preclude satisfactory transfer of the last thread directly over to a new package of yarn so as to assure no interruption in the knitting process. snagging, which causes broken filaments, will automatically stop the high production knitting machines and these machines are commonly capable of producing up to 2000 yards of knitted material per 24 hour day in a continuous operation. Thus, in that any knock-offs or interruptions due to each yarn snagging may cause a downtime of up to 14 minutes, loss of production can be most serious if snagging is prevalent.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a plastic textile cone having a unique peripheral surface structure for retaining yarn wound thereon.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a plastic textile cone structure which may be formed easily and precisely in the moulding process of the cone.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a textile plastic cone on which synthetic yarn may he would thereon without slipping or unwound therefrom without snagging.

Broadly, the textile cone of ,the present invention comprises a hollow frusto-conical body having a nonslip peripheral surface tapering from a base end to a relatively smaller truncated end, the peripheral surface having a plurality of circumscribing ridge sections and groove sections disposed alternately thereon, the ridge sections and groove sections being substantially parallel to the base end, and each of the ridge sections and groove sections having a knurled front surface including a plurality of parallel fine grooves circumscribing said peripheral surface and substantially parallel to said base end.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS These and other objects of this invention together with its advantages will be more apparent from the following description and drawings which illustrate a specific embodiment by way of example and in which:

FIG. I is a perspective view of the textile cone according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional plan view of the textile cone; and

FIG. 3 is an exploded side elevational view of the peripheral surface taken from the area bounded by the dotted line B in FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENT With reference to the drawings in which like reference numerals indicate like parts, the plastic textile cone according to the present invention is generally indicated by the numeral 10. The cone is frusto-conical in shape and has a circular base end 11.

. The peripheral or barrel surface of the outside wall 12 is conical in shape and tapers gradually to a truncated and relatively smaller circular end 13 which is commonly referred to as the nose end of the cone. A plurality of ridge sections 14 and groove sections 15 are alternately formed on the peripheral surface. The ridge sections 14 and the groove sections 15 all circumscribe the peripheral surface 12 and are parallel to the base 11. The ridge sections and the groove sections are equal in width.

A plurality of fine grooves 16 are formed on the front surface of the ridge sections and groove sections to provide a knurled surface therein. The fine grooves are formed by a plurality of parallel grooves which circum scribe the peripheral surface 12 and are also substantially parallel to the base end 11.

The edge portion 17 of the nose end 13 has a smooth surface and the circular edge 18 is rounded such that the nose end does not cause any snagging to the yarn when the latter is being unwound from the cone.

The side walls 19 and 20 of each groove section have a slope of about 45 with respect to the peripheral surface or to a plane perpendicular to the peripheral surface and located at the junction between the side walls and the front surface of the groove section as best shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings. The vertical distance between the crest of the ridge section to the valley of the fine grooves in the groove sections is typically about 0.0045 inch. The width or pitch of the ridge sections and groove sections is typically about 0.050 inch and depth of the fine grooves is typically about 0.001 inch.

A plastic textile cone having a non-slip peripheral surface structure according to the present invention with the above exemplary dimensions has been found to operate efficiently without causing slipping and snagging to a wide range of synthetic yarns commonly used in the textile industry.

The fine grooves 16 provide primarily a means for gripping the head of the yarn when it is being wound on the cone, so that the head of the yarn will not slip off the conical peripheral surface. The gripping action is assisted by the winding machine which starts the winding action with initial windings executed in an exaggerated angle. Such initial windings will have a strong grip on the conical peripheral surface. After the initial windings have achieved a firm grip on the cone, the subsequent windings are wound evenly throughout the peripheral surface.

The alternate ridge sections and groove sections provide a stepped configuration on the peripheral surface to prevent the yarn windings from sliding laterally in the longitudinal direction along the peripheral surface. The centre portion of the yarn winding bulk, which consists of mainly the initial windings and the first few layers of regular windings close to the peripheral surface, will have the same stepped configuration as the peripheral surface. The ridge sections formed in the bulk of yarn windings will match with the groove sections of the peripheral surface of the cone and vice versa to interlock with each other. Therefore, the centre portion of the yarn winding bulk is prevented from popping out from the cone.

The slope of the side walls of the groove sections substantially affects the lateral sliding movement of the yarn windings. A steep slope can provide a positive stoppage to such sliding movement. However, too steep side walls may interfere with the yarn when it is being unwound; therefore, steep side walls will cause snagging. On the other hand, a gentle slope will allow the yarn windings to slide laterally.

The fine grooves 16 in the ridge and groove sections also have sloping side walls which are substantially equal to the slope of the side walls of the groove sections such that the fine grooves will not cause snagging of the yarn windings.

A plurality of annular ridges 21 and 22 are formed on the inner side wall of the textile cone. These annular ridges are adapted to coact with spring biassed claws on the mandrel of the winding and weaving machine, so that the cone may be quickly and easily mounted or removed from the mandrel. The annular ridges also provide reinforcement for the barrel of the cone.

At least two longitudinal ribs 22 may be formed on the inner side wall near the nose end 13. When a plurality of cones are stacked together, the longitudinal ribs will prevent the cones from clinging together, so that the cones may be removed from the stack with ease. The longitudinal ribs also provide reinforcement for the nose end of the cone.

The textile cone may be fabricated by plastic injection moulding process. In such process, molten plastic such as polypropylene is injected into a female mould. The female mould has the stepped surface configuration of the cone formed on its mould surface. A frustoconical male mould is inserted in the female mould to produce the cone. The longitudinal ribs and the annular ridges-are formed on the surface of the male mould as longitudinal channels and annular channels. With such injection moulding process there is no seam formed in the cone. Therefore, it overcomes the problem of the existence of a scam in paper cones as mentioned above.

In the moulding process, the final cone is withdrawn together with the male mould from the female mould after the plastic has set. Subsequently, the cone is stripped off the male mould by' a stripper plate. The dimension and the configuration of the peripheral surface of the cone according to the present invention facilitate the cone to be retracted from the female mould with ease.

It can be appreciated that plastic textile cones made according to the present invention may also be made in various colours in order to provide ready identification or code for the yarn would thereon.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A plastic textile cone for winding synthetic yarn, comprising: a hollow frusto-conical body having a nonslip conical peripheral surface tapering from a circular base end to a relatively smaller circular truncated end, said peripheral surface having a surface configuration comprising a plurality of circumscribing ridge sections and groove sections formed alternately thereon, said ridge sections and groove sections being substantially parallel to said base end, and each of said ridge sections and groove sections having a front surface comprising a plurality of circumscribing fine grooves substantially parallel to said base end, whereby said peripheral sur face has a frictional yarn-holding characteristic uni form throughout its entire length.

2. A plastic cone according to claim 1 in which each neighbouring ridge section and groove section have a common side wall which is sloping at about 45 with respect to said peripheral surface.

3. A plastic textile cone according to claim 2 in which the width of each of said ridge sections is equal to the width of each of said groove sections.

4. A plastic textile cone according to claim 3 in which said width is about 0.05 inch.

5. A plastic textile cone according to claim 4 in which the vertical distance between the front surfaces of said ridge sections and said groove sections is about 0.0045 inch.

6. A plastic textile cone according to claim 4 in which said fine grooves formed on the said front surfaces of said ridge sections and groove sections have a depth of about 0.001 inch.

7. A plastic textile cone according to claim 2 wherein said fine grooves have side walls sloping at about 45 with respect to said peripheral surface.

8. A plastic cone according to claim 7 including a plurality of annular ridges formed in the inner side wall of said cone.

9. A plastic textile cone according to claim 8 including at least two longitudinal ribs formed in the inner side wall near the smaller truncated end of said cone.

10. A plastic cone according to claim 7 wherein the edge portion of said smaller truncated end has a smooth outside surface and the circular edge of said truncated end is rounded to prevent snagging of yarn when the yarn is being unwound from said cone. 

1. A plastic textile cone for winding synthetic yarn, comprising: a hollow frusto-conical body having a non-slip conical peripheral surface tapering from a circular base end to a relatively smaller circular truncated end, said peripheral surface having a surface configuration comprising a plurality of circumscribing ridge sections and groove sections formed alternately thereon, said ridge sections and groove sections being substantially parallel to said base end, and each of said ridge sections and groove sections having a front surface comprising a plurality of circumscribing fine grooves substantially parallel to said base end, whereby said peripheral surface has a frictional yarn-holding characteristic uniform throughout its entire length.
 2. A plastic cone according to claim 1 in which each neighbouring ridge section and groove section have a commOn side wall which is sloping at about 45* with respect to said peripheral surface.
 3. A plastic textile cone according to claim 2 in which the width of each of said ridge sections is equal to the width of each of said groove sections.
 4. A plastic textile cone according to claim 3 in which said width is about 0.05 inch.
 5. A plastic textile cone according to claim 4 in which the vertical distance between the front surfaces of said ridge sections and said groove sections is about 0.0045 inch.
 6. A plastic textile cone according to claim 4 in which said fine grooves formed on the said front surfaces of said ridge sections and groove sections have a depth of about 0.001 inch.
 7. A plastic textile cone according to claim 2 wherein said fine grooves have side walls sloping at about 45* with respect to said peripheral surface.
 8. A plastic cone according to claim 7 including a plurality of annular ridges formed in the inner side wall of said cone.
 9. A plastic textile cone according to claim 8 including at least two longitudinal ribs formed in the inner side wall near the smaller truncated end of said cone.
 10. A plastic cone according to claim 7 wherein the edge portion of said smaller truncated end has a smooth outside surface and the circular edge of said truncated end is rounded to prevent snagging of yarn when the yarn is being unwound from said cone. 